Jim Mashek

DRAGONS IMPROVE TO 21-3 OVERALL, AWAIT BGHS FOR KHSAA 14th DISTRICT SEMIFINALS

The Warren Central High School boys basketball team had just finished packing the courtside chairs to clear the floor of Tim Riley Court for some practice time on Friday night.

The Dragons’ regular-season finale had come and gone, much like the Evangel Christian Eagles, a capable squad from Louisville that was held to just 13 points after halftime.

Warren Central 54, Evangel Christian 39.

The Dragons, looking to get back to Lexington for the KHSAA’s Sweet 16 next month at Rupp Arena, will square off with archrival Bowling Green High School on Tuesday night at WCHS, with the winner moving on to the 4th Region Tournament at WKU’s historic E.A. Diddle Arena and the loser packing its gear for what promises to be a long offseason.

Such are the stakes when you get to mid-February for high school basketball teams in the Commonwealth.

“We went 21-3 against a tough schedule,” Warren Central coach William Unseld said when it was over. “That’s as good a defensive half as we’ve had all year …”

Defense has long been Warren Central’s calling card, going back far beyond its second state championship in 2023. The Dragons were the favorite in the 4th Region Tournament last year, only to get bounced by Tate Spillman and Barren County, 58-44, in the quarterfinals.

Unseld kept his team in the WKU golf locker room for about 90 minutes to discuss what went wrong in that game.

This has been a different sort of season, starting with the two-week hiatus created by Winter Storm Fern in late January. Choppy, perhaps, but the Dragons have won five of six games since their 65-59 loss to Bowling Green on January 22, at the BGHS Arena.

“I think we’re starting to get our groove back,” said WCHS point guard Kaleb Prince, a senior transfer from Warren East High School who led the Dragons with 15 points on Friday night.

“The big thing, tonight, was effort,” added Warren Central’s Amani Byrd, the 6-foot-8 junior center who gives Unseld flexibility with their variety of pressing defenses.

Byrd was everywhere, against Evangel Christian, altering shots when he wasn’t blocking them and giving the Dragons a pronounced advantage on the boards. Warren Central is a deep team, too, which allows the Dragons to play aggressively with an established last line of defense.

“We have a different leading scorer, just about every night,” Prince said. “Armani’s really athletic … I think we’re in a good spot, going into the district tournament.”

Established players such as the Dragons’ Ryan Hulbert, Jeremiah McCombs and K.J. Johnson are particularly effective on defense. So while Warren Central trailed, 26-23, at halftime, the Dragons returned to the floor with the look of a confident team.

Prince beat the Eagles on a crossover move to the weak side in the third quarter, and when Evangel’s Christian Norris drilled a 3-pointer, Johnson answered with a 3 of his own, and the Dragons were content to just dig in and defend.

“We came in at halftime, and we told the kids, ‘Keep guarding, keep fighting,'” Warren Central coach William Unseld said. “We challanged our guys to be more active on the glass. I think our depth was able to wear them down, a little bit.”

Aristophane Molima, the Eagles’ 6-foot-8 junior center, was in foul trouble for most of the second half, drawing his fifth foul with 1:59 left in the game. Molima led Evangel with 10 points while Golden Dotson, an eighth grader, finished with seven.

Eight Warren Central players got into the scoring column, with Byrd finishing with nine points, and McCombs adding eight. Byrd, Kaleb Prince and Dominique Anthony all average in double figures for the Dragons.

“We’ve got to stay focused, and have a good weekend of practice,” Unseld said. “We’re going to have our hands full with Bowling Green.”